PICTURE IN PICTURE
Use floating translated subtitles on iPhone
Keep a translation in view while switching apps, watching a lecture, or following a live stream.
Floating subtitles are useful when the audio comes from one app and you want a translation without leaving it. Live Translate displays captions in an iOS Picture in Picture window while you continue using another app.
How Picture in Picture captions work
The caption window displays the latest recognized speech and its translation. The system broadcast supplies available system audio; Apple’s on-device speech and translation capabilities generate the text. The window is separate from the source app, so it does not need to provide its own translated subtitles.
Start a floating caption session
- Open Live Translate and choose the spoken and translation languages.
- Prepare the required language resources.
- Start Picture in Picture and confirm that the caption window opens.
- Start the iOS system broadcast and confirm the system prompt.
- Switch to the app you want to listen to and play audible speech.
Bilingual, translated, or original
Bilingual shows the translation together with the original text, which is useful for checking meaning or learning a language. Translated keeps the view focused on the language you want to read. Original shows a live transcription without the translated line.
Move the window or open fullscreen
Move the Picture in Picture window to a convenient position using the system controls. For larger text, Live Translate also provides fullscreen captions in portrait and landscape. Fullscreen captions are a view inside Live Translate; use Picture in Picture when you want captions alongside another app.
What to check if the window goes quiet
Make sure the system broadcast is still running and the source is producing speech. If broadcasting has stopped, return to Live Translate and start it again. Verify the spoken language and that the necessary models are prepared.
Protected audio may be unavailable even when the video is playing normally. Picture in Picture captions cannot bypass a source app’s audio restrictions.
What this feature translates
Live Translate transcribes and translates speech. It does not read and translate arbitrary text, buttons, chat messages, or game text on your screen. For setup details, see translating video audio on iPhone.